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Irish Christmas lights held up by red tape

Sean O’Driscoll

November 1 2016, 12:01am, The Times

Shoppers on Grafton Street in Dublin can enjoy Christmas lights in IrishMARK STEDMAN/ROLLINGNEWS

It looks like Santa will be coming very late to Irish language enthusiasts in Derry. A bitter dispute about whether Derry and Strabane’s Christmas lights should carry greetings in Irish, Ulster Scots or Polish as well as English has been sent to a consultation process that won’t be complete until many months after Christmas.

After a four-hour sitting on Thursday night, councillors at Derry and Strabane district council voted in favour of invoking Section 75 of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act in deciding the wording of future Christmas lights.

The section states that if a public body’s decisions could negatively impact nationalists, unionists, ethnic or sexual minorities its officials should prepare a seven-step equality impact assessment (EQIA).

“I’m still in disbelief. It’s shocking and it…

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